The Three Paths

Karma is to be performed and Karma is not to be performed—both the
injunctions are given in the Vedas. The Vedas speak of merits and demerits in
connection with Karma. They speak of Varna and Asrama, of difference in time,
space, age and objects, of Swarga (pleasures) and Naraka (pains). The sense of
right and wrong is not innate, but it is acquired from the scriptures, and the
same scriptures undermine all ideas of difference. To a casual reader these
tend to confuse a person’s mind. Considering these seemingly contradictory
injunctions in the light of the answers given in the Bhagavata Purana, it will
be evident that such contradictions do not really exist.

Three paths had been spoken of as leading to the attainment of Moksha by
men—Jnana, Karma and Bhakti Yogas. It has been definitely stated that there
is no other means whatsoever of attaining Moksha (liberation). Jnana is for
those that are disgusted with the performance of Karma and so they give up
Karma. Karma Yoga is for those who are not disgusted with the performance of
Karma but are attached to it. He who, perchance, becomes fond of what is said
or spoken of God, but has no aversion for Karma, nor has any undue attachment
to it, is fit for Bhakti Yoga.

One should perform Karma so long as one does not feel disgust for it or as
long as one is not drawn by love for God. True to one’s duties, one should
perform Yajnas but without any selfish desires. Do not perform prohibited
Karma. Then one shall cross the limits of both Swarga (pleasure) and Naraka
(pain). By the performance of one’s duties, the purified man may acquire
pure wisdom (Jnana) and Bhakti. The dwellers of Swarga wish for the human body
and so too are the dwellers of Naraka. For, this body is a means to the
attainment of Jnana and Bhakti but not so the Swarga and Naraka body. The
farsighted man does not wish for Swarga or Naraka. He does not even wish for
human existence. Because connection with the body causes selfish distractions.
The sage knows the body as leading to desired-for ends. But he succeeds at the
same time, in striving for Moksha or liberation before the approach of death,
even as the bird loses all attachment for its nest and flies away free and
happy before the man who strikes at the tree succeeds in felling it.

The human body, which is the primal source of all attainment, is a
well-built boat, so hard to secure and so cheap when once attained. The Guru
is at the helm of this boat, and God is the favourable wind that drives it.
The man who does not cross the ocean of births and deaths with such a boat is
a killer of Self.

Jnana: When a man feels disgust for Karma and becomes dispassionate and
when his senses are controlled, he should practise concentration of mind. When
in the act of concentration, the mind suddenly goes astray and becomes
unsettled, he should bring it back under the control of Self with unremitting
efforts, after allowing it to go in its wandering course for a while. Never
neglect, however, to check the course of the mind with your Prana and senses
all controlled with the help of Sattvika Buddhi, to bring the mind under the
control of Self. This control of mind is the highest Yoga. The horseman
slackens the reins at first but never lets go the reins. Reflect on the
creative manifestation of all objects and then the contrary process of
dissolution according to the Sankhya method. Do this till the mind attains
calmness. By cultivating a sense of disgust, by growth of dispassion, by
constant pondering over the teachings of the Guru, the mind gives up its
delusion. By practising Yama and other methods of Yoga, by discrimination of
self and by worshipping God, the mind is able to think of the Supreme. If by
loss of mental balance, the Yogi does some improper acts, he should burn up
the impurity by Yoga alone, but not by any other means, i.e., not by expiatory
rites.

Adherence to the particular path of one’s own following is the right
thing. People have been taught to distinguish between right and wrong, not
because the acts are not all impure by their very nature but because the
distinction is necessary to regulate the acts themselves with a view to
causing a final abandonment of all attachments to them.

Karma: It may be said that, according to scriptures, Nitya-Karma (acts
ordained to be necessarily performed) and Naimitta-Karma (acts ordained to be
occasionally performed) purify the mind. Hence they are right (Guna). The
killing of animals and such other acts make the mind impure. Hence they are
wrong (Dosha). Expiations (Prayaschitta) are required to be performed in order
to remove the consequences of wrong acts. Therefore Prayaschitta is a right
thing (Guna). How can impurities be destroyed by means of Yoga then and not by
means of Prayaschitta? Therefore it is said that what is called Guna (right)
and Dosha (wrong) by injunctions and prohibitions, is only a regulation of
acts. The purpose is this: the impurities of a man are not the outcome of his
own inclinations. Man is impure through his natural tendencies. It is not
possible for him, all of a sudden, to have disinclination for all actions.
Therefore ‘do this’, ‘do not do this’—these injunctions and
prohibitions merely put a restriction upon the inclination of a man, and by
this means they lead to disinclination. The Yogins have no inclinations. The
roles of Prayaschitta are not meant for them.

Bhakti: He who has reverential faith in all that is said about God and
who feels disgust for all actions, who knows that desires are identical with
misery, but is yet incapable of renouncing them,—such a man should worship
God with sincere devotion and firm faith. Though gratifying his desires, he
should not have any attachment for them, knowing that they lead to misery in
the end. Those that constantly worship God according to Bhakti Yoga have all
the desires of their heart destroyed, as God Himself dwells in their heart.
The bondage is broken asunder, all doubts cease to exist, the accumulated
actions fade away when the Atman of all (God) is seen. The Lord’s Bhakta
speedily attains everything that is attained by other means: Swarga, Moksha or
even God’s Own Abode, if he has any desire for any of these. But the Lord’s
Bhaktas who are solely devoted to God do not desire anything, even if it is
offered by the Lord—not even final liberation. They are beyond the limits of
Guna and Dosha.